Small-animal trap



' A. J. WADDELL ET AL SMALL ANIMAL TRAP Filed April 25, 1922 Eastman-Sheet l jvmmmtow WWW Sept. 9, 1924. 1,507,639 A. J. WADDELL ET AL SMALL ANIMAL TRAP Filed April 25, L922 5 Sheen-Sheet 2 g'vwantom l 67. Wdel WWW? WI Mddel,

Sept., 9 1924. 1,507,639

A. J. WADDELL ET AL SMALL ANIMAL TRAP s Sheets- Sheet 5 Filed April 25. 1922 WEtzzemJ s.-- y- WWW WM %W Sept. 9 1924. 1,507,639

A. J. WADDELL ETAL.

SMALL ANIMAL TRAP Filed April 25. lsaz s Shoots-Sheet 4 7 7 /4 35 if /i Q; gwuentow flu: Vl adeih Wzfzzesse s:

WWi Vadael- Q/ZZZ/MUWM I Sept. 9 1924. 1,507,639 A. J. WADDELL ET AL SMALL ANIMAL TRAP Filed April 25 i933 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

top unit of the trap.,

. vFigure 2 isa I of the trap.

UNITED s-r I ANDREW J. -WADDELL AND-WASHINGTONIW. WAD DE IiI OFIHO-LGOMB; MISSOURI.-

, SMAL ANIMAI. TRAP.

To all whom z'tmay concern: I

Be it known that we, ANDREW J. WAD- bELi; and WASHINGTON WV. WADDELL, citizens of the United States, residing at Holcomb; in the county of Dunklin and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful 11n- 'provements in Small-Animal Traps, of

which the following is a specification.

4 The.object of our said invention is the provision of a decoybait trap for mice,"rats and other'small animals, that is extremely simple in construction, reliable in operation, andwell adapted to withstand the exposure and rough usage to which animal trapstare ordinarily subjected. I. J 3 ,To the attainment of the foregoing, the

invention. consists in the improvement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed. Inthe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification :5-

. 1 Figure 1 is afront elevation of our novel trap. M V 1 top. plan view of the same. Figure 3 is a longitudinalvertical section .Figure 4 is aninyerted plan viewfof the Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical frag- ;mentary section taken in the plane indicated .bythe line 55 of Figure 2, and hereinafter explicitly referred to. y

'Figure 6v is a detail perspective of the imetalframe comprised in the said top unit.

. Figure 7 is a detailtperspective showing B one of the precipitating platforms of the trap and its weighted arm.

Figure '8 is a detail perspective on an enlarged scale of" one of the latches. 1 Figure'9 is a detail perspective on an enlarged scale of one'of the fulcrum plates.

Figure 10 is an enlarged perspective of one of the weights. 1 i

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings.

Among other elements our novel trap comprises a body which as shown in Figures 1,

2 and 3 is formed of appropriate reticulated material and is made up of a bottom wall 1, side walls 2- and end walls 3; the said side and end walls being inclined inwardly from the bottom wall; and the body being open at its top as appears in Figure 3. In one of the side walls 2 of the body is an opening for the removal of caught animals. the said opening being framed as indicated by a door Application filed a rnas, 1922 Serial no. ssesssj I j in closed position.

Secured by solder or other means on the upper-portions oftheend walls 3 ofthe trap bodyare fulcrum plate'sfi with aper tured ears 7, and mounted to swing between the said ears 7 are latches 8, preferably four innumber. At their free ends. the said latches 8 are provided Withpendent hooks9 5, detaychablysecuredlbyappropriate V which are merged as shownfinto upst'and ing finger pieces 10.

Detachably. secured by the latches on thebody of reticulated material so as to at fectively close the upperopen side of the said body is the top unit of our novel trap.

The said top unit includes a frame ll', an

arch 12 from whichdepends a bait-hook 13,

tilting platforms 14,,stops 1 5 with lateral terminals 16, upwardly and'outwardly extending rods 17 on the tilting platforms14,

andcounterbalance weights 18 on said rodsf 17. As best shown in Figure 4 theframe ll whichis. preferably of sheet metal and of open rectangular form, is .providedgwith outer flanges 19torest against the side and end walls of, the reticulated body, and" inner flanges 20 'to, extend downwardly and inwardly in the body... In the end fianges20 and near the junction of the same with the flanges 19 are depressions 21 fo-rtlie'reception of the hooks 9 of the latches by which thelat ches are enabled to strongly hold the frame 11 on the body. 'It will be noticed, however, th at'when desiredthe hook-portions ofthe latches 8 may be readily sprung out of engagement with the frame 11, whereby the" top unit asya whole may be lifted from the body tofacilitate cleaning of the trap or for 11 at the points 26 as best shown in Figure 2and the terminal'portions 16 of said stops are. arranged in-the paths of movement'of the rods 17 which rods are movable to and from the dotted line positions shown in V Figure 3. The inner portions of the rods 17 are fixed by solder or other means at 26,

Figure 4, to the undersides of the platforms 14, and the rods are passed upwardly through the notches 27 at the outer ends of the platforms and are curved as shown. The outer end portions of the rods 17 are threaded as indicated by 28 for the adjustable attachment of the correspondingly threaded counterbalance weights 18, this manner of attachment being resorted to in Order that the weights 18 may be positioned properly fo'rthe prompt closing of the platforms As best shownin Figure 2 the arch12 is formed by crossed Wires fixedly connected at their ends to the frame 11 and the bait hook 13 is connected to the said wires at the point of intersection thereof.

In the practical use of our novel trap, bait is fastened on the hook 13'and serves to attract animals up the inclined sides of the reticulated body. Then an animal reaches the frame 11 of the top unit in its efforts to reach the bait, the flanges 20 tend to cause the animal to slip down to one o-fthe platforms which will give or gravitate with the weight of the animal, whereupon the animal will be precipitated into the .body. The weighted arm of the particular platform referred to will" then promptly return the platform to its closed position. Fromthis it follows that the trap is of self-setting type, and hence will catch one animal after.

another. In this connection it will be appreciated that the portion of the reticulatedbody outwardly beyond the platforms l4 affords ample space for'the trapped animals so that there is no liability of them interfering with the working of the platforms 14 incident to the trappingof following animals.

Obviously when desired the door opening alluded to as disposed in the side wall of the reticulated casing body may be made to communicate with a retention compartment (not shown) or, whenthe trap is used ona vessel, may be soarrangedias to permit rats toget away into the water. These features,

however, are not of the essence of 1 our invention.

We have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiment of our invention in order to impart a full, clear and f such as fall within'the scope of our invention as defined in our appended claim.

Having described our invention, What ave" claim and desire to secure by Letters- Patent, 18

A trap comprising a body, an open center frame applied to the top thereof, said frame having inclined side walls, a *stop member mounted upon the frame at the outer pertion thereof and disposed over the side of the frame and having an angularly disposed extremity disposed over th 'e. opening v in the center of the frame,,a platform hinged to the inner 'edgerof the frame and at the same side thereof at whichi' the stop member is mounted, a pu a rod mounted upon the platform in the vicinity of the hinged edge tliereofysaid rodextending over the adjacent side of the frame, a

weight; carried at the outer. end Ofj tlie curved'rod and normally disposed beyond theouter edge of the adjacent side of the frame, the angular extremity of "the stop member being located in the path or movement of the rod whenthe platform iss wun g in a downward direction with relation :to M

the frame, the parts being so arranged and the curvature of the rod being such; that when the platform is swung downjthe, weight is carried'to .a point lying vertically between the platformand the frame and the outer edge of the adj'acentside of the frame.

In testimony Whereof, "we afiix our Ifsignatures.

ANDREW J. WADDELL. WASHINGTON WVADDELL; 

